128 LEPIDOPTERA INDICA. 



of either section occurring within our limits, and the section of which Faustus, Olive, 

 is the type we name Madais, putting them into three sections : Callosune, type Danae, 

 Fabricius ; Colotis, type Amata, Fabricius ; and Madais, type Faustus, Olive ; the males 

 of the first section have no sex marks or secondary sexual characters ; in Colotis the 

 males bear patches of specialized scales or androconia on the upperside of the hind- 

 wing ; in Madais there is a patch of androconia on the underside of the forewing and 

 upperside of hindwing, and the different patterns and coloration form them into 

 well- divided and natural groups. 



The species of these genera have been treated in a most arbitrary manner by 

 Watson and Bingham ; for the most part the species belong to desert tracts and 

 sandy countries, but some few of them, such as Callosune Danae, are forest and 

 garden insects, their habits of life are quite different to those of the Dulcis group 

 which superficially resemble them ; the present writer studied these forms in Bombay 

 where Danae" is to be found, and for many months in Scind where Dulcis and the 

 other desert forms are very plentiful. The male of Danae has habits akin to the 

 Kallimas of the family of Nymphalidse, it settles on a leaf on the top of a tree 

 and remains there for days together, making short flights out and returning to the 

 same spot. On one occasion a male of C. Danae in the garden of one of the Bombay 

 hotels was closely watched for six successive days. On the other hand, the different 

 forms of the Dulcis groups are most restless creatures, they seem to be perpetually 

 on the move, wandering long distances without settling at all. Then, again, with 

 reference to the seasonal forms we are in a little difficulty ; that nearly all the species 

 herein referred to have seasonal forms corresponding to the seasonal forms of the 

 other groups of Lepidoptera there can be no reasonable manner of doubt. It is true 

 that in the desert districts there is very little actual rainfall, but cloudy and clear 

 sky seasons, and hot and cold seasons, come about with the same regularity as wet and 

 dry seasons in the other parts of the Indian region, and these changes affect the 

 Teracoli exactly in the same manner ; there are some intergrades, but so there are in 

 nearly all the forms of Lepidoptera. Bingham says, "A slight difference in the rain- 

 fall from one week to another, probably even from day to day, in localities w^here they 

 are found, seems to affect the shade of the ground-colour, the width and prominence or 

 otherwise of the markings on their wings " ; but he shows no warranty whatever for 

 these assumptions, and does not quote the authority of any one who has observed 

 them in the desert tracts they inhabit. In Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 434, we stated 

 " the real home of the Teracoli is the sandy desert, and it is a most extraordinary 

 fact that the worse the locality, where nature is a barren wilderness of nothing but 

 intense heat and sand, the more beautiful are the species to be found there, many of 

 them having most brilliant patches of golden orange ; regular sun patches, just as if 

 these patches had been burnt into their wings by the sun." 



